It'S Complicated

The crowd was cheering louder and louder. Aarav was on the stage, the last participant of the singing event held by Radio Mirchi. Tall and handsome man, he made the girls in the crowd go woo. His looks were icing on the cake as his voice was enough to make anyone his fan when he sang and such a voice was needed to win the event that evening. It seemed that all the youngsters studying anywhere across the NCR have geared up to witness the musical event and were in fully charged mode. Around 200 students were from Aarav’s college to support him and cheer for him. His best friends Rishaan, Kiara and Diya seemed to be the most excited ones in the entire crowd and were constantly praying for Aarav’s victory.

 

Aarav started singing and the entire crowd became silent. His mesmerising voice was magical and the crowd seemed hypnotised on hearing his voice. All started clapping slowly to the rhythm of the song. Flying kisses were being blown into the air for Aarav. He was focussing on his song but could not control the pink blush on his face seeing the reaction of his female supporters. He ended the song with a high note which pleasantly surprised everybody. The beautiful ending made many jaws drop down in amazement and the judges gave him a standing ovation. The silence of the crowd broke with applause. All were cheering for the star of the night.

 

“Aarav! Aarav! Aarav!”

 

“Once more, Once more, Once more!”

 

Such phrases were being repeatedly called out loudly. Aarav was the deemed winner yet he was calm till the results were officially announced.

 

The results were announced and yes, Aarav bagged the first prize. He won a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 and a holiday at Goa for four people for six days and seven nights. Aarav like a well cultured music student touched the feet of the judges. He was handed the microphone to speak a few words. Aarav held it with shivering hands. He had tears in his eyes. He said, “This song was dedicated to my family whom I lost almost 2 years back in an accident and also to my best friends who became my family after that accident.” All were silent. It was an emotional moment. Rishaan, Kiara and Diya rushed to the stage and hugged Aarav tightly. Aarav was too full of emotions. He also said, “I will be celebrating this Christmas with my friends at Goa. You guys are my life.” The crowd cheered loudly in his support.

 

That night Aarav was quite emotional. He was thinking about his family, the car accident in which he lost his parents and his sister and how he met his friends. 2 years ago after he passed class twelfth, he lost his family. Shattered Aarav gathered his broken pieces, started earning his livelihood by teaching tuitions to children. He took admission in college for pursuing B.Com (Hons.) and there he met bold, outspoken, fun loving and extrovert Kiara; soft-hearted, quiet, emotional and extrovert Diya; and confident, determined, bold and aggressive Rishaan. There his new phase of life began with his new friends. Slowly the bond between them grew stronger. The three brought back happiness in Aarav’s life and were the world to Aarav who had recently lost everything in his life.

 

The next morning the four friends met at college. Aarav hugged them tightly. He was being treated like a hero by the entire college. Aarav reminded his friends that they had to leave for Goa the next evening. All of them were excited for this vacation but Diya was a bit confused. She wanted to go because of Aarav but did not want to go because of Rishaan. Something had happened a few days back after which the friendship between Diya and Rishaan did not remain the same.

 

About fifteen days ago, when Aarav was busy practising for the singing event and when Kiara was absent, Rishaan and Diya walked towards the canteen after their Economics lecture. As usual Rishaan was busy flirting with his female classmates passing by while Diya was involved in her books trying to solve a question given by the teacher. They sat at the table. Rishaan tried to seek Diya’s attention by showing her some videos in his phone. Diya paid no attention to him and was scratching her head and was still trying to solve the same question. Rishaan called out, “Diya.” And she placed a finger on her lips and said, “Shhhhhhh Rishaan, let me solve this question first.” Determined Rishaan snatched Diya’s books and the bell rang. It was time for the next lecture. Diya tried to take back her books and go to the class but neither did Rishaan give her the books nor did he let her go. The canteen was empty in a while. Only Diya and Rishaan were there. Diya kept asking him why he wasn’t letting her go but Rishaan asked her to wait for the right time.

 

Suddenly Rishaan held Diya’s right hand, got down on his knees and said, “I think I have fallen for you. I Love You.”

 

Diya laughed as she thought it was a new prank of Rishaan. This time Rishaan was serious and was reluctant to get up. Diya merrily asked him, “Is there a drama event going to happen in the college soon?” Rishaan lifted his face up and said, “I am serious. I wanted to confess my feelings for you from the last few days but I was not getting time and appropriate location. I seriously love you my dear. We have known each other since childhood and I feel that you are the best girl I can ever get myself as my partner. You know everything about me and your presence makes me feel complete. I cannot live without hearing your voice even for a single day. I always borrow your notes because I want to talk to you for longer. I don’t know how it did happen but this friendship has actually turned into love and I want to cherish all my moments with you”

 

Diya seemed frozen. She did not move nor did she speak. Rishaan stood up and said, “I want to give all happiness to you but please say something.” Diya replied in a shaking voice, “You are my friend but I don’t love you. I want that our 20 year old friendship remains the same. Please be sensible and control yourself.” “But I love you,” Rishaan said in an innocent tone. Diya got infuriated and was about to leave. Rishaan held her hand. Diya asked, “Do you want our friendship to end or do you promise to control?” Rishaan nodded his head and said, “I promise to control and I also promise that very soon I will make you realise the intensity of my love.” Diya’s anger flew away and she said, “I don’t want to be a topic of gossip for the college. Can you please keep this conversation secret? Please don’t tell about this even to Kiara and Aarav.” Rishaan smiled and said, “Anything for you, my love.”

 

Finally Diya decided to go to Goa just to make Aarav happy. The evening came when they had to leave for Goa.  The friends met at the airport and something shocking happened there. The bold Kiara arrived, hugged Rishaan in front of the other two friends and said, “I love you!” Rishaan didn’t say a word, gave a big smile, hugged her even tighter and it was an indication of Rishaan’s acceptance. Aarav was happy for his Kiara and Rishaan as he was unaware of what had happened in the canteen a couple of weeks ago. Diya got a bit uncomfortable as she could not understand what was in Rishaan’s mind as till the previous day he was trying to prove his love for her. She was confused why he gave his approval to Kiara.

 

Is Rishaan fooling me? Is Rishaan fooling Kiara? Is Rishaan really in love with anyone? Is this his old flirt game? And so on. All such questions were constantly going on in Diya’s mind when suddenly Rishaan whispered into her ears, “I love you only. I am sorry that I am fooling Kiara but this is necessary to bring out your feelings for me. Very sure you will realise that you also love me. Wait for the fun at Goa.” They boarded the flight and their journey to Goa began. Rishaan sat in the corner, Kiara in the middle and Diya at the other corner whereas Aarav sat in the row ahead of them.

 

In the middle of the flight, Kiara woke up to go to the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way into the middle seat. And with Rishaan readily offering to shift seats, the sitting arrangement changed. With 20 minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep starved Kiara took another power nap, this time holding Rishaan’s right hand more firmly. Rishaan’s other hand, though, nervously moved to touch Diya’s. Her heart skipped a beat. Diya pulled her hand away. But a defiant Rishaan held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing behavioural dynamics between the three perhaps gave out a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.

 

When the flight landed at the Dabolim airport, Rishaan felt uncanny… His excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher. Rishaan was not able to understand what he was doing. He was troubling his friends. He was fooling Kiara, the girl who was madly in love with him. He was running after Diya, the girl who was not ready to reciprocate her feelings for him. He could not discuss his situation even with Aarav because of two reasons. Firstly, he did not want Aarav to lose any of his friends during this confusion and complicated relationship. Secondly, he did not want to break the promise which he made to Diya with a pure heart. Confused Rishaan was just walking wherever his friends were taking him. He was afraid that he does not lose all his friends in this confusion.

 

They reached the hotel to freshen up and then start enjoying their vacation. The girls shared a single room and the boys shared the other room. The boys were ready to go to the beach and came to the girls’ room. As usual the girls were taking time to get ready- clothes, matching accessories, make-up; they had a lot to be done and it was not their fault because they were girls after all. Kiara was constantly praising Rishaan and expressing her love in front of the other three in the room. Like every friend, Aarav was hitting Rishaan and was busy teasing him but Diya seemed getting uncomfortable with the topic of discussion. She tried to change the topic many times but Kiara was not willing to take a pause. Finally the girls got ready amidst the conversation and they got ready to go to the beach.

 

All four enjoyed to the fullest at the beach. They forgot their tension of the fourth semester results. Splashing water on each other, riding the motor boat, writing on sand and many more things they did to have fun. Finally the girls saw some shops and nothing could stop them from shopping now. Rishaan declared that he would buy a gift for everyone. He bought sunglasses for Aarav, bracelet for Kiara and earrings for Diya. Kiara bought a shirt for Rishaan and they hugged each other tightly. Diya was getting jealous.

 

Days passed enjoying in Goa. They even danced to the beach music tunes. Sometimes it was Rishaan and Kiara dancing as a couple and at other times one could see Rishaan and Diya doing so. Diya’s jealousy became evident from her behaviour and Aarav could feel that something was wrong but he chose to remain silent. Often there were fights between Kiara and Diya for Rishaan. Both were equally possessive for him. Rishaan was afraid that the friendship was about to end but he constantly prayed that this does not happen.

 

It was time for them to return. Before returning, the friends decided to go to a nearby church. After offering their prayers, Diya got some spare time to talk to Rishaan. She said, “I am in love with you. But I don’t want to hurt my best friend. Yet I can’t afford to lose you. Don’t know what to do now.” Rishaan assured her and said that he will do something. He will make Kiara understand everything. Rishaan quickly hugged Diya before anyone could see them and said, “Don’t worry, I will make everything perfect.”

 

“Rishaan, Diya come fast. Help…” It was Aarav screaming on top of his voice. Diya and Rishaan ran quickly in the direction of the voice. When they reached Aarav, they saw Kiara lying on the floor. Aarav told them that she fainted and just said, “Call my family here,” before turning unconscious. She was rushed to a nearby hospital and her family was called immediately to Goa.

 

To everyone’s surprise, the fun loving and cheerful Kiara was suffering from brain tumour. Her family was aware of this but she had hidden it from her friends. Her complications were incurable and the doctors had told that she could not live for long. Her family arrived Goa. Kiara was under observation. When she came back into consciousness, after meeting her family she called her friends inside to meet her.

Kiara was still smiling and lying cheerfully on the hospital bed. The three friends rushed to her, hugged her and started crying. Kiara pushed them away and said, “Don’t spoil my makeup guys,” and all started laughing. She said now these are my last wishes- “I love you Rishaan but I know you love Diya. Keep her happy forever. Aarav our rock star sing a song for our friendship.” Aarav wiped his tears, gathered courage and sang for her. As the song ended, Kiara took her last breath uniting Rishaan and Diya forever. She had a smile on her face but left everyone in tears.